Dungeoncraft

The best of both worlds.

Arranging an audience

Anton Van Holland shows off to Claudia and introduces the gang. Prompts her for help. Our news makes Claudia run off to tell her father about danger to his mines around soon-to-be-invaded-by-orcs little town we came from.

Claudia’s father, Baron Kinsen, agrees to help arrange audiences, but in meantime we get free housing and some work. Conclave starts in 3 days.

Darik washes up and shaves before dinner. Leif Boyden gets Laser to recon the city for escape routes or odd goings on in exchange for bacon and beer. Leif stuffs bacon in his pocket during dinner and puts his full beer mug upside down in the other pocket. Darik pulls him out of dinner. Kalna keeps drinking with the captain at dinner.

Laser reports city is blobby but mostly centered around big church. No major thoroughfares. Activity throughout city. Obviously major underground structures. Leif rejoins party as they exit dinner and retire for nightcap and pipes.

Kinsen talks about the new archbishop (a populist), asks about our background. He’s an atheist. He tasks us with preventing any harm to archbishop candidates. Darik asks him about Queen Opal’s past/reputation.

Kinsen talks about ‘Ol Boys’ faction of church with their own candidate. They are most likely to start craps and are most traditional faction. There might be catacombs under old church aWe head to their last known hangout out, an small old church in the east city. Darik hears noises inside and sees two figures grappling in the center. He hoists Leif up to the window. Leif sees 16 yr old boy and goblin fighting to pick up a knife on the floor. Darik sneaks in the side and Anton, Leif, & Kalna move to the front door of church.

Anton knocks goblin against wall with teldekinetic thrust. Leif lights up the center of room with dancing lights. Goblin runs for altar. Kid runs towards north side door. Kid is caught in tentacles. Darik bounced off goblin. Anton controls goblin’s limbs to run back towards the group instead of away. Leif picks up knife.

Kid and goblin are both tied up (8/16 respectively). We’ll interrogate the kid outside and goblin inside.

The party continues on the road to Pelor’s holy city of Aurum. Coming to a crossroads, they take the slightly longer road that stops off at a monastery with a reputation for hospitality. They meet a cleric of Fharlanghn along the way who gives them some information about current events – a great storm about a month ago in the tropics, for example.

At the monastery they are received warmly and given lodging & food for the night. Kalna briefly meets an old woman reading a Draconic scroll of magical theory. Darik reminisces about his time as an acolyte. Anton asks after odd jobs and finds a halfling messenger with two broken legs who’s desperate to deliver a message to the city.

The next morning, Anton pulls a card – the Magician again – and creates a floating disc, onto which they tie a chair and also Scot, the halfling messenger. They make the journey to the city to find great crowds of people trying to get in for the coronation and appointment of a new Archbishop of Pelor – crowds so big they’ve attracted hawkers and food booths. Anton sends a mental message to an old flame of his, the daughter of a wealthy baron, who eventually gets them escorted into the city by guards.

The party accompanies Scot to deliver his message in a wealthy part of the city. There they meet Mr. Bean. Bean and Scot head off towards the study while the group gets paid and leaves. Then, shouts and muffled explosions send the group running back into the house. They find Scot, Bean, and their servants scattered around the room and a grey slaad standing over them. In the ensuing melee, Anton slings the slaad into the wall and gets blinded for his trouble, the slaad animates a desk, couch, and two chairs as minions, the Laughing Man stabs the fuck out of the slaad with a poison knife and then gets tripped up by a pissed-off couch, and shit gets fireballed. Bean eventually hires a wizard who fixes up Anton’s eyes and the group sets out to meet Claudia.

Claudia greets Anton with a curtsy and a slap. Anton gives her the life story. She promises to do what she can to get them audiences with the king and possibly the archbishop.

Headed back to town-beefed up security-, followed gnome priest back to chappel. Chappel empty of patrons, full of guards. Leif stays in chappel. Darik, Kalna, Anton head to castle to get some rest and check in with Jenson.

Meet with Jenson, while we were out there were a handful of pushes by greenskins from the caverns underground. Prisoner says that pushes will only get stronger. Chat with Jenson about whats going on.

Darik sends a contact drop for laughing man to see if he can help with information and bodies for the upcoming problems. Group going to meet with queen to chat about artifacts. Next step is war council. Fight vs. Flight (sending out artifacts to draw orcs away).

Darik and Leif go to meet with Laughing Man. He pledges he aleigence to them so much as they keep feeding him information. Willing aid them no matter what the war council decides. Laughing Man gives them a Scrying Ball so he can listen in on things when needed. Lief holds on to Ball.

Forget about Scrying Ball and go to war council. Queen detects it and kicks us out. Lief and Darik have to explain to Kalna and ANton why. Jenson tells us to lay low for a few days, Kalna has to go buy shit (literally).

Castle bell rings and guards start running toward castle. Laughing Man shows up next to us. Kalna intimidates her way into castle, leaving the rest on the outside, makes her way to the throne room, queen notices her and chat.

Leif, Darik, Anton, and Laughing man sprint to the mine entrance to the caves and come upon a small group of orcs. Clean them out.

Kalna heads down and meets the king in the other side of the caverns and fights with another group.

After Terra burst fearlessly through the illusion doorway, the group (Terra, Leif, Darik, Jensen and Kalna) quickly realize they are no alone. The passage we’ve entered is empty, but Terra can see multiple Orcs, some ranged, some not, in the next passage, and we all hear them.

They immediately charge Terra and Darik steps forward to help. Leif takes the lead in retreating out the doorway and up the narrow ledge. Terra explodes one of orcs into flame. The others follow Leif out as Jensen valiantly

Day 10-Midnight meeting with Laughing man
Set up 2 squads several block away from fountain with instructions to wait.
Terra summons celestial woodchuck to answer “how much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” No way to test such a question since
we’re in mostly stone city. Then poofs out of existence and Laughing man appears and seems amused.

chat with Laughing Man:
LM: wants to know about Axe and especially the Rapier.
T: Wants to know method of passage into the castle by Orcs and their intent.
LM: The “Travelling Man”, disciple of Ollidamara came through town with rapier once and met LM. This is how LM knows about non-disciples getting fucked by wielding
artifacts.
D: talks about artifacts balancing each other, but abandons that idea to LM
LM: Caves and lakes under castle, some of which have links for Undercommon (home of Drow (sp?) who are lawful, evil and can dominate Orcs/execute organized
maneuvers). Mentions old Mining shaft outside castle wall that has passage into castle.
L: reveal names and positions of Priests taken or attacked.
LM: (reveals black and white mask as stroking his beard thinking of this info)seeks more info about effects of Axe on wielder.::leads us to Old Mine::

LM: Wants more info on Artifacts, non-green skins wandering tunnels, Queen’s abilities/studies/theories. Also explains how to use feathers to contact him (write
message, wrap around feather, throw in air). Vows to be an ally.

COntinue exploring towards where Orcs were headed, Turn right towards narrow passage. Search and find 1 door trigger on right side & 4 removable stones on left
side evenly spaced along passageway. trigger leads to Vault. Surprise dwarves who surround us, get Jensen & continue to open removable stones; each leads to
the back of a small jail cell (can only be opened from passageway). Find removable stones to open space of jail cell and to large troll/orc jail cell.

Back track to 4-way intersection. Jensen describes this place as being right under the middle of the castle.RIGHT: Find 2-level ladder with some listenning posts on 1st levelup and more listening/spying posts and some access to King’s smoking room, Queen’s arboretum,
Throne room.STRAIGHT: another ladder with spy holes to lower guest quarters on 1st level, and spy holes and entrances to upper guest suite(where we’ve been sleeping) on
2nd level.LEFT: up ladder leads to hidden stair case with entrance to study, and shitters. Notice precarious path past barrier that leads down and find false wall.
Then we smell orcs then see orcs, then…

King orders servants to prepare a feast. Most are sheding they armor. Suddenly fog starts rolling into throne room. Servant runs in unharmed
and speaks with King quietly. He sends servant back into fog.
Leif fires crossbow at doorway and blindly hits one of three servants. Crossbow taken away. Leif thinks fog will kill him.

Terra, Darik, Leif head for queen’s chambers. Terra fails at calming Leif and doubles penalty of being in fog.

Darik is first through war room door and saves himself from door bursting into flames.

Queen, entourage and guards all safe, but have seen some action. Don’t answer any of Queen’s questions.
Queen’s matron reveals she saw 6 orcs carrying off John Pertwee, priest of St Cuthbert (Justice).

Head to Cuthbert chapel to track John Pertwee. Speak to Mabel (female priest) who was present when stuff went down. She’s fine. Orcs were quiet and
very organized/focused.Fail at tracking.

Marshall Malero(f) & General Thorcrest in Kord Chapel. They defended themselves from capture.

Head to final Chapel (Pelor). Big gliph keeping everyone asleep. Terra falls asleep. Move all white robed figures to adjacent Chapel.“high priest” is not
who Leif thought he was, i.e. just a deacon. William Hartnell (high priest) of Pelor chapel was not among sleeping people. Charge deacon to
keep everyone out of Pelor Chapel.

Terra pulls The Magician card (blue colors) and can cast any level 0-2 spell without limit, but must make save. Chooses levitate first (flashy to make point infront of King).
Speak with King & Queen about power of box and it’s ability to allow multi-wield of artifacts regardless of alignment with gods.
Don’t reveal to them that each card may correspond to a particular god/power/creature summoned. Warn King to not wield the Rapier anymore
but simply protect it.

Recieve message from laughing man for new meeting at midnight by fountain.

Box given to Darik who hides it in cask.

Current Hypothesis:
Box of cards is godless/supergod artifact that allows temporary (probably 24h) wielding of any or multiple godly artifacts regardless of users allignment.
It can be opened once/day to pull a card which summons a creature or power associated with a particular god/goddess. Pulling a card does not give full
control over creature nor risk-free power, though use of power is unlimited in # of uses in 24h period. This is how Orc leader was able to wield the Rapier
of Desperate Measures (confirmed as real by High Priest of Garl Glittergold, (Crimbo Ellington VI) during battle with King, but did not use godly creature
to win battle.
Suspect Laughing Man is High Priest of Ollidamara.
Suspect Orcs being organized/manipulated by non-orc intelligence/power to gather all High Priests for their knowledge of the location and nature of each
godly artifact.
Suspect imminent raid on castle for box, rapier, and axe. Wielding and moving artifacts not equivalent, so items could be stolen without the deathly
consequences of non-believer wielding rapier or axe.
Not sure if Laughing Man aligned with Orcs or will align with us.

Interogate Human- would send a message to laughing man asking for a meeting with us.

Interogate Orc- named Skrag, used some empathy, got a bit friendly, then leif asked darik about any wenches or whores he knew of who had some orc fetish—Catherine who works at Copper’s. Went and got her, brought her back to castle, cleaned her up a bit, brought her to the dungeon and she sent us out of the room and after 5 min came back and got us. Skrag was more amiable and told us that he was from an underground tribe and they came up from the caves before bleeding out of every orifice.

spellcraft test- could have been a curse cast on him beforehand or a magical spy in the room.

Returned to king (darik and leif) and queen (terra) and tell our stories when a couple of halflings burst in the room and inform the queen that there is a orcish army of about 20,000 marching this direction about 3 days out from the northeast. King calls a meeting, Darik suggests large scale siege traps (spike pits, laying pitch on the ground,etc. we end up going with some outriders to harrass their scouts to slow them down.

Coming through ravine pathway, ambush with logs, arrows, magic stuff. Dark elves send spiders up cliff sides to us. Slow them down and retreat back to castle.

High priest with king and queen, brings king into chapel and comes back with artifact-level battle axe of Moradin. axe speaks to king.

Begining of battle- king and orc leader go head to head, stalemate for a while, king disarms orc, then beheads orc leader. orcs lose. great feast. king picks up orc’s rapier and another item (small mithril case).

Rapier has a makers stamp of a laughing man. Rapier of Desparate Measures- an artifact weapon made by Olidammara, someone picking up should have been smote down unless a true believer in Olidammara…but king also carrying an artifact magic weapon of Moradin

Mithril case- double spiral design on case, gets tinier and tinier down to the impossible center, holding a deck of cards. Also some kind of magical aura.

brawl in the halls of Olidamarra's Church

Evening of day 6- setting up the ambush of the ambush
leif and dead carver set up by center of square, Darik sets up on roof to guard and watch over
6 dudes take positions in each entrance way, plus 4 enemy snipers on roofs with crossbows
The laughing man reveals himself to Leif and brief conversation takes place.
meet laughing man-reveal to him our ‘removal of fine ale from castle’ idea, he disappears without fighting during ensuing battle. Laughing man wears
a stylized version of the mask symbol seen from necklace and as tattoos.
Darik tries to overtake a sniper but commotion makes everyone panic and attack. The laughing man has ability to completely disappear using shadows.
Leif is terrible with falconpunch the hawk. 1st try to raise signal for the guard fails. Leif stabbed in back, kidneys and generally useless
then unconscious. Darik saves Leif with potion and kicking ass. Terra warms up and ends with very impressive, cinematic kills.
Apperance of guards makes most ground-force-type guys run away battle quickly ends.

Looting and capture of 3 prisoners (2 humans, 1 dwarf)

day 7 morning- meeting with Queen Opal
She requests audience with Terra, Leif and Darik. Pushes to gain information.
Reveals she has some very fast acting and seemingly powerful skills including taking over Darik’s body briefly
to make him perform monkish feats of agility.
She also seems to imply that one of her skills is getting people to want to do her bidding. Terra showing up to the battle is an example of this.
We next head to dungeons to question Orc from raid on the castle and the 3 prisoners from the previous evening’s fight.
guiding questions: who did he spot in entering castle? how he got in? do thieves know how to get in? structure of thieve guild?
Know of anyone who is easily manipulable?
interogation results:
orc: leif zaps him repeatedly, trying for intimidation. Stays a little too close to bars and get surprise grabbed. Orc loses his hand
and consciousness but does not die. Is returned to jail but moved to farthest cell, so he’s seen by the three prisoners captured at the square.
Only thing we find out from him is he goes by Kurzon. Plan for him is to keep torturing him to wear him down.
1st human: Scott is 17 yr old kid, scared by blood all over cell. Reveals that the Olidamarra’s Church is ‘everywhere’. It’s more a metaphorical idea
though there are prayers and rituals. Also talked about who the laughing man is. Main characteristic (echoed by next prisoner, the dwarf zac) is
that ’he’s smart. he’s got everything figured out.’ He will be housed for several days in Castle, isolated, then released.
He reveals he’s rather new to organization. He knows the dwarf, nicknamed zac since he can’t pronounce real name, but not the human.
interogation cell was stagged during our lunch to look like we murdered Scott.
Interogation of Zac is done solely by Terra and Darik. Leif steams in a corner. Zac is very cooperative. Reveals more about the splinter cell
nature of the laughing man’s organization, the codename of who his cell reports to: Crescent, and his drop location, a gutter nearby. Also reveals
each cell has one lateral connection. Zac is more or less a local of the castle/town and will be released after being fed.
Terra and Darik plan to leave a message and stake out the drop site with something like, “been released but don’t know why. I think they’re going to
kill me. need help”
interogation of final prisoner, nameless human is put off for later. as is round two of orc intergation.

C)day 6-gathering information
head to armory to ask about sold items-leftover axe is higher than usual quality,
definitely goblinoid so manufactured to the east but nothing more specific

enter dismal dive bar, leyf stealthily, derek as himself and makes a sale
acosted by 3 dwarves with daggers-fighting and confusion ensue
1 runs away southward
1 is tied up- take his throwing stars(derek) and small key in his purse, rest of purse goes to Copper for his troubles
leader is prone by nail-bat to the head from Copper (bartender/owner) then tied up. his purse also goes to Copper.
Leader has small necklace with charm similar to tattoo of tied up guy.take necklace.

Carver-human-tattooist-north side of town
he is not convinced to give us thieve’s pseudo-guild info.plans sells us out to thieves in a midnight meeting
set up backup with Jensen- falconpunch (ranger’s hawk) will glide over them and squawk as signal for help needed
return to carver’s shop, undo all magical protections, cast silence over self, knock over inks and shit all downstairs,
try to tie him up but crossbow him through the neck (insta-kill) by accident (leyf is an idiot).

speak with the dead Carver
1) are the would-be attacker you set us up with thieves or smugglers? yes.
2)Who is the highest ranked member of the most organised thieve/crime group in the city? The laughing man
3) where would we find “The laughing man”?locked in the halls of olidammara’s church
4) what would it take to make the laughing man work with us? Great wealth, great power or a great secret
carver’s corpse has a few tattoos which might be the same as the necklace and dwarf tattoos.